Gothic Supernatural and Romanticism

1. Gothic Supernatural and Romanticism

2. Gothicism Gothic Literature • Developed as a genre in 18th century • It is devoted to tales of horror, the darker, supernatural forces

3. Gothicism Gothic Architecture • Majestic, unrestrained architectural style • Profusion of savage, often grotesque ornamentation • Vaulting arches • Spires reaching to the heavens

4. Gothicism • The Doppelganger • A second self or alternate identity • Represents opposing forces in human nature • Suggests humans have a double nature

5. Gothicism Monster/ Satanic Hero/ Fallen Man Motif • Fallen Hero becomes a Monster or, confronts a monster who is his double • Like Satan, he defies the rules of God’s universe Frankenstein’s Monster 

6. Tragic Hero Traits... • Hubris: arrogance causing transgression against the gods • Catharsis: a move from ignorance to knowledge • Periptea: reversal of fortune (fall from grace) • Hamartia: weakness that causes the eventual downfall • Nemesis: fate that cannot be escaped

7. Gothicism relates to Romanticism • Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19th century. • Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”s • Imagination • Intuition • Idealism • Inspiration • Individuality

8. Imagination • Imagination was emphasized over “reason.” • This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical period or “Age of Reason.” • Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art. • British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it “intellectual intuition.”

9. Intuition • Romantics placed value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason. • Emotions were important in Romantic art. • British Romantic William Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

10. Inspiration • The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.” • What this means is “going with the moment” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.”

11. Idealism • Idealism is the concept that we can make the world a better place. • Idealism refers to any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over matter – thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is. • Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held that the mind forces the world we perceive to take the shape of space-and-time.

12. Individuality • Romantics celebrated the individual. • During this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements. • Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it begins, “I celebrate myself…”

13. Romanticism is all about: The Loner The Individual The Power and Majesty of Nature The Dreamer The Pitfalls of Science The Romantic Country Life Romanticizing the Gothic and Medieval Life

14. Literature In America, Romanticism most strongly impacted literature. Writers explored supernatural and gothic themes. Writers wrote to express themselves.

15. To Sum Up: Gothicism and Romanticism can be related in nature!!!! THE END!!!!